Bristo Square and McEwan Hall (37777694085)

Brsto Square and McEwan Hall December 2017

Bristo Square,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland, is a public space on the estate of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

. It lies in the south of the city, between

George IV Bridge George IV Bridge is an elevated street in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is home to a number of the city's important public buildings. History A bridge connecting the Royal Mile to the south was first suggested as early as 1817, but was first p ...

and

George Square George Square ( gd, Ceàrnag Sheòrais) is the principal civic square in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of six squares in the city centre, the others being Cathedral Square, St Andrew's Square, St Enoch Square, Royal Exchange ...

. The most prominent landmark on the square is the

category A listed This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom. For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland. Key The organization of the lists in th ...

McEwan Hall The McEwan Hall ( gd, Talla MhicEòghainn) is the graduation hall of the University of Edinburgh, in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was presented to the university in 1897 by William McEwan, brewer and politician, at a cost of £115,00 ...

, in which the university holds its graduation ceremonies. Other notable buildings on the square include the Dugald Stewart Building, the

Informatics Forum The Informatics Forum is a major building on the Central Area campus of the University of Edinburgh. Completed in 2008, it houses the research institutes of the university's School of Informatics. Design The Forum is designed by Bennetts Asso ...

Potterrow Student Centre The Potterrow Mandela Centre or Potterrow Student Centre is operated by Edinburgh University Students' Association in Edinburgh, Scotland. Site and architecture The name "Potterrow" recalls a medieval suburb which stood outside the town wa ...

, Reid Concert Hall, and

Teviot Row House Teviot may refer to: People * Baron Teviot * Earl of Teviot Places Australia * Teviot, Queensland, a town in the Scenic Rim Region, Queensland * Teviot Brook, a river in the Scenic Rim Region, Queensland * Teviot Falls, Queensland * Tevio ...

History

The square officially opened in 1983 to mark the university's quartercentenary. The square was designed by the architectural practice headed by Professor Percy Johnson-Marshall (1915–1993) who held the chair of urban design and regional planning at the university. It was originally designed as part of the 1962 plan to create a civic space to replace Bristo Street, realigning Potterrow and Lothian Street in the process. The consulting engineers were Jamieson, MacKay & Partners. There is a plaque to the local educational campaigner

Mary Crudelius Mary Crudelius (née McLean) (23 February 1839 – 24 July 1877) was a British campaigner for women's education who lived in Leith, Edinburgh in the 1860s and 1870s, and was a supporter of women's suffrage. She was a founder of the Edinburg ...

in Bristo Square.

Redevelopment

In 2013 the

announced plans to invest £35m on improvements to the

and the Bristo Square area. Designed by LDN and

Buro Happold Buro Happold (previously ''BuroHappold Engineering'') is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the environment ...

this scheme is designed to restore the A listed

Robert Rowan Anderson Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, (5 April 1834 – 1 June 1921) was a Scottish Victorian architect. Anderson trained in the office of George Gilbert Scott in London before setting up his own practice in Edinburgh in 1860. During the 1860s his ...

building to its former glory whilst enhancing accessibility and increasing capacity by adding in basement seminar rooms. The redevelopment of this square started in April 2015 and was completed in time for the July 2017 graduations. As part of the redevelopment, a new artwork 'The Next Big Thing...is a Series of Little Things', by

Susan Collis Susan Collis (born 1956) is a British artist working in Hackney, London. She is known for crafting ordinary looking, everyday objects from valuable materials. In her approach to sculpture, Collis manages to elevate the mundane, celebrate tradit ...

has been installed b
Powderhall Bronze Foundry
The artwork takes the form of a series of bronze circular shapes which runs as a series of drips from McEwan Hall entrance across the square. File:Bristo Square.JPG, Bristo Square prior to redevelopment File:Bristo Square redevelopment, University of Edinburgh (May 2015).jpg, Bristo Square redevelopment underway May 2015 File:Bristo Square looking towards 7 Bristo Square (March 2013).jpg, Bristo Square prior to the 2015 redevelopment work. This view shows 7 Bristo Square by the Modernist architects Robert Steedman (b. 1929) and James Morris (1931-2006).

Recreational and Edinburgh Festival Fringe use

The square is frequently used by traceurs,

skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. S ...

rollerblader Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by ...

s and

bmx BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

ers for recreational purposes. It has been said to be a “breeding ground for skaters”, however with the redevelopment work this ceased at the end of March 2015 until the square reopened in summer 2017. It had become customary over the summer months for University of Edinburgh to rent the square to the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

for shows and stages. The square was home to the udderBELLY for the several years until 2014. The Udderbelly purple cow tent has since moved to the university's George Square gardens.

References

{{Streets and Squares in Edinburgh, state=collapsed Streets in Edinburgh Squares in Edinburgh University of Edinburgh 20th-century establishments in Scotland